It is the first week of December, and thewoven shibori scarves and sachets for the Artistree Gallery Holiday Art Bazaar were completed and delivered.  Saturday at the gallery was enjoyable, with great art, great food, music, and even a visit from Santa!

I had been moving along, making progress on the scarves, was thinking about adding small beads to the long edges, had muslin and indigo dyed cotton for sachets as well as a good supply of dried lavender and a lavender/rose petal mix,… and the phone rang.

My father had fallen and fractured two bones in his left arm, the radius above his wrist, and middle finger in his hand. I drove down a day or so later when the roads would be plowed (they had a good snowstorm 250 miles south of where I live), and spent two weeks with him, taking him to appointments for x-rays and a better splint, and a week later more x-rays to make sure the bones had started to heal.

So, in-between helping him with cooking, home, laundry, errands, and so on, I visited Michael’s and bought dark indigo colored and clear glass beads, and began stitching them to the scarves.  Two evenings before driving home, I could no longer see the holes in the small clear beads.  So on my way north, I stopped at a Michael’s and bought an OttLite floor lamp, LED lights around a magnifier.  What a difference that has made!

I finished sewing on the last dozen beads, sewed and filled the muslin squares, cut the woven shibori and indigo-dyed cotton squares for the sachets, assembled them, and hand-stitched them closed.  The fragrance is wonderful!

And they were finished!

Now, I’ve begun work on the custom orders, one woven shibori “bamboo” scarf, as well as several pairs of wool socks.  I have less than two weeks to complete everything and get them all in the mail.

Then I return to spend Christmas and New Years with my 88 year old father, visit the clinic again and hopefully x-rays will show his arm has healed and he can take the splint off.

I’ll return home early in January, sit down at the Regina tapestry loom, and do some serious weaving and learning,… winter is a good time for that!

There are changes coming up, big changes in 2016, and it’s time to make plans, detailed lists, declutter my home and life, and set new goals.  Exciting times ahead!